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Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom
" " is the 14th episode of the first season of Invader Zim. It first premiered on October 26, 2001, on Nickelodeon. Plot Summary It is Halloween, and the entire town is getting into the Halloween spirit. Zim, unfamiliar with the holiday, panics when he becomes convinced that the Skoolchildren have transformed into candy-starved monsters, so he fortifies his base to protect his blood from them. Meanwhile, Dib has been acting crazier than normal, seeing strange hallucinations of hideous creatures. The class decides to use one of their Crazy Cards, and Dib is taken to the Crazy House for Boys. However, this is a cover-up for the truth that Dib is really being teleported to an alternate dimension due to meddling with one of his father's inventions. The "flashes", as he calls them, get progressively longer, and Dib predicts that he will eventually be stuck in the Nightmare Realm forever. He escapes from the insane asylum, but is unable to return home. Instead, Dib goes to Zim's house, in hopes that the alien can help him. Zim, of course, refuses, but ends up getting involved in Dib's problems anyway, when both of them are permanently teleported into the Nightmare Realm. Zim and Dib decide to work together to get home, which is through Dib's mind. This truce does not last long, however, and only a short period of time passes before Dib leaves Zim to be captured by the Halloweenies. Dib finds himself in the Nightmare version of his house, only to be captured by Nightmare Membrane and Nightmare Gaz. While in captivity, Zim meets the leader of the Halloweenies, Nightmare Bitters. She explains that they want to capture Dib so they can travel through the portal in his mind to take over the real world. Zim escapes the Halloweenies, but has to save Dib. Meanwhile, Nightmare Bitters has opened the portal in Dib's head, but Zim shows up with a mech he found in Nightmare Membrane's lab just in time. The robot slows down Nightmare Bitters and the Halloweenies long enough for Zim to force his way through the portal in Dib's head. Meanwhile, Dib is left trapped in the Nightmare Realm, surrounded by Halloweenies, until he manages to force himself through the portal in his own head. Back in the real world, Dib and Zim abruptly appear (As a result of having to go through his own head, Dib shows up inside-out, but he somehow manages to turn himself right-side-out instantaneously). All seems well for Dib and Zim, until Nightmare Bitters also forces her head through the not-quite-gone portal, but triumph turns to horror when the first thing she sees is GIR, who has become morbidly obese from eating all of the skoolchildren's candy. Convinced the real world is far worse than the Nightmare Realm, Nightmare Bitters retreats and closes the portal for good. Facts of Doom Cultural References * When Zim's base is being assaulted by the trick-or-treaters, he has his windows all boarded up and he refers to the children as "zombies". This is a reference to Night of the Living Dead. When the kids come trick-or-treating to Zim's house, he uses a monitor that tracks the children's movement; it sounds and works just like the motion tracker in the film Aliens. *In addition to the Aliens reference, GIR is dressed in a Xenomorph costume in the opening sequence. *Nightmare Bitters' transformation into the horrific, insectoid creature is likely a homage to werewolf films. *GIR's bloated appearance at the end may be a reference to Jabba the Hutt from the Star Wars franchise. *During one scene, Willy is dressed as Captain Underpants, from the book series of the same name. Trivia *In this episode, Dib admits for the first time there is a possibility he's crazy and that his head may be big. *The Halloweenie who explains the prophecy to Dib could possibly be a nightmare version of himself; they even share the same voice actor. *GIR appears to be the size, if not larger, of Zim's base from eating too much candy at the end. *The Skool looks more like a building than the original one, and looks taller as well. *A child dressed like the baby-like alien from Hobo 13 appears among GIR's victims at the end, although Hobo 13 didn't air until after the Halloween special. *The pictures in the end credits have a few points: 1. Zim is in his alien form despite being in his disguise in the Nightmare world. 2. In one shot, there is a border with the two-eyed Irken symbol on the sides. 3. There are only two images in the end credits, which alternate throughout. 4. One scene never happened in the episode. * This episode was rated TV-Y on its original airing. Things You Might Have Missed *One of the nightmare monsters appears to be a violet-eyed, silhouetted version of Nny from one of Jhonen's comics, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. He can be seen three times: 1. When the camera pans down in Nightmare Bitters' Lair, he can be seen at the right corner 2. In the crowd, just before the second monster goes to the Realm of Eternal Screaming and Restlessness. 3. When Dib asks Nightmare Bitters "Don't I get any say in this?" and the beasts turn to look at him. *When Dib is looking around in the Nightmare world after he has just been put in his cell, the Nightmare version of Keef can be seen among the other monsters, who is identical to his normal-world counterpart - Jhonen Vasquez jokingly explains in the commentary that he was already scary enough to begin with, so no alterations were necessary to make him more terrifying. *While Zim is imagining the other students in class as savage, flesh-eating monstrosities, Ms. Bitters can be faintly heard continuing her rant and going "blah blah blah blah" *When Dib gets turned inside out after going in the portal in his head, a streak of blood is visible on the fence he appears on. (When GIR jumps out the window, he didn't have his costume on, but in the end he has it on.) Inconsistencies and Animation Errors *After Ms. Bitters tells her story about how she used to be a Fairy Princess, Mary suddenly appears by Ms. Bitters' desk when she was sitting in her chair. *When Zita asks if she can send Dib to the Crazy House for Boys, Miss Bitters warns her that they only get three Crazy Cards a month. However, this episode took place on Halloween, the last day of the month, so there was really no point in warning her, as the class would receive three new Crazy Cards the next day. (This could, however, imply that Halloween is not celebrated by them on the 31st of October) *Zita's irken costume has three fingers, yet in some scenes her costume finger is four. *In the scene where Zim is in the mech and Dib is talking about how he's still mad about something he did earlier, Zim is seen without his gloves, despite the fact that he had gloves on. *During the scenes where Dib is in the asylum and when he runs to Zim's house, his straightjacket flashes on and off. *Dib is not wearing a straightjacket when he enters Zim's house. *After Dib brings Zim into the Nightmare World. *When Dib is first explaining the flashes to the scientists, his ears disappear in one of the shots. *As Zim and Dib just enter the Nightmare Zim's house, Dib's head is badly distorted for one frame. See also *Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom (Transcript) *Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom Screenshots es:El espectacular de noche de brujas de horroroso terror Category:Double Length Episodes Category:Season 1 Category:Dib Filmography Category:GIR Filmography Category:Ms. Bitters Filmography Category:Professor Membrane Filmography Category:Zim Filmography Category:Episodes Category:Keef Filmography Category:Bloody GIR Category:Screenshots Category:Multipart Stories Category:Gaz Absences